Guided Practice in Speaking English

Podcast #96 A Bad Day for Walter

Walter overslept. He had to eat breakfast in a rush. He cut his face in two places shaving. He hadn’t done his weekly clothes washing, so he didn’t have any clean underpants. There was frost on his car’s windshield. He didn’t own a scraper. He did what he could with his fingernails. On the way to work he went through a red light. That got him a $200 traffic ticket. He got to work forty minutes late. He totally forgot about an important meeting. His boss was not at all happy about that. Walter’s computer started misbehaving. It took two hours to get that fixed. At lunch he spilled gravy on his tie. He left his credit card in the restaurant. A very angry client called and disparaged Walter for forty minutes. On the way home Walter missed his highway exit. A car was blocking his driveway. His front door was open. He looked around. His computer and TV were missing. A little smile appeared on Walter’s face. Tomorrow would have to be a better day.

Walter overslept.
Walter got up late.

He had to eat breakfast in a rush.
He had to rush through breakfast.

He cut his face in two places shaving.
He got two razor cuts shaving.

He hadn’t done his weekly clothes washing,…
He had neglected to do the weekly washing,…

…so he didn’t have any clean underpants.
…so there were no fresh underpants to put on.

There was frost on his windshield.
His windshield was covered with frost.

He didn’t own a scraper.
He had no ice scraper.

He did what he could with his fingernails.
He did his best with his fingernails.

On the way to work he went through a red light.
On the way to work he ran a red light.

That got him a $200 traffic ticket.
That earned him a $200 traffic citation.

He got to work forty minutes late.
He was late to work by forty minutes.

He totally forgot about an important meeting.
An important meeting completely slipped his mind.

His boss was not at all happy about that.
His boss was pretty annoyed about that.